¡Cuidate! is for Spanish and non-Spanish speaking Latino youth aged 13-18 years. This program is proven to be equally effective with boys and girls. Parent permission to participate in this program is required.

“ ¡Cuídate! , to me it means to be careful with the decisions I make with my partner…Respect goes a long way when being sexually active.I learned that if one of the partners doesn’t appreciate your values then one should recognize that maybe the relationship is not meant to be…”

“During the classes I learned that being a man doesn’t mean to have unprotected sex and have multiple women to satisfy your needs.Being a man is to be faithful to your partner, always protect yourself even when you’re only having monogamous sex, respect your partner and never treat your partner like he/she is weak.Now that I know that the myths about being a man are not true I feel more calm and more safe about keeping my dignity...”

“After participating in these classes, ¡Cuídate! to me means to be smart and think ahead about making smarter and safer decisions about my sexual health.It means be cautious and take care of myself because a mistake made by me could have major effects on me, my partner and our families and friends... ”

“Before ¡Cuídate! , I didn’t really think of contracting an STD as the reason why to have safe sex.All I worried about was getting pregnant…After ¡Cuídate! , I realized that getting an STD is a very dangerous thing – maybe even worse than getting pregnant – because they can even kill you.I also never thought about the fact that the person I could be having relations with might have an STD and they just don’t know it yet.Now I am more aware of the dangers of unprotected sex and will make ita priorityto regularlyget tested and havemy partner gettested before we have relations.¡Cuídate! means to me to not only care for myself, but for my partner too...”

Parents play an important role in talking with their child about sexual health, relationships, and family values around sex.

We offer a two hour workshop called “Talking Clear and Simple” to parents who are interested in learning more about how to talk about sex with their children. Workshops are offered in Spanish or English.

The program is offered in schools and other community youth programs in MarionCounty. Parent Permission is required for youth participation. For more information, class schedules, and locations, please contact: Marion County Health Department at 503- 981-5851.